You'll be fine.The first part is grade 1/2 tracks.And craters is tame, no rocks or technical descents, craters only has one grade 5 track, which had all the grade 5 features removed and the rest are grade 3/4, most grade 3.

Pretty Much. It's been done pretty quick too, If my memory serves me right in 2011 Ken Feist pulled a sub 4:20 on the old direction course. Basically going to be a matter of keeping your hands comfortable as possible, trails aren't really tech (especially by Welly standards), but are fast and hard packed generally which on a cx can present its own issues (Jarring/vibration), descents are short so that plays into your favor. If you're wanting something different, cx should spice it up and not be too crazy, quite possibly even a way to make ground in the fast first 30km to the dam and back to craters. (I'd waaay prefer ride Huka than Whaka 100 on a CX). Fat (38c ish) tyres are something i'd also investigate to smooth things out..

Ok, so I did it. Basically I enjoyed the first half but as the ride wore on my back hurt more and more to the point that I was just waiting for it to be over.

The CX bike did make the tracks more challenging, but I was riding 32mm semi slicks with 60 psi and I was still paranoid about pinch flats so I spent all the downhills and most of the flat in the drops and standing on the pedals. This meant that I was effectively planking for 50% of the time, hence the sore back.

I also lost my second water bottle in the first few minutes (new cage and forgot to bend it in for a tight fit) so I did the whole thing on 1 bottle plus a refill. I also discovered I could not eat on the move as 1 hand doesn't have enough control, so only had 1 gel.

The other prob was the gimps in front of me on the up hills who rode so slowly in their granny gears so I couldn't take advantage of my better climbing speed.

Overall, I think the CX bike made the ride more interesting but my back couldn't handle the full 80km. Back to the road next time.